HONG KONG The Villiera winery is located just outside Stellenbosch in the heart of South African wine producing country about 50 kilometers from the majestic city of Cape Town. It was founded by cousins Jeff and Simon Grier in 1983 when they saw the potential for making great wines in the area because of the fantastic terroir of the region. After replanting all the vines with classic and indigenous varieties, they set to work to make some of South Africa’s most esteemed wines.

The mainstay of overall production, around 35 per cent, is focused on their sparkling wine, made the same bottle fermented method as its French counterpart, but, at Villiera, called Methode Cap Classique. Four different styles of these wines are made; non vintage Villiera Tradition Brut, Tradition Brut Rosé, Villiera Brut Monro and Villiera Brut Natural.

Villiera, and South Africa as a whole, is well known for its quality white wines, especially their Chenin Blancs and Sauvignon Blancs. Villiera makes an estate Sauvignon Blanc but the pinnacle of their whites is the Villiera Bush Vine Sauvignon Blanc, of which only around 800 cases are made every year and was first produced for the 1989 vintage.

The reds from the winery, not to be outdone by the whites, are also world class with the majority of plantings on the estate being Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon – although there is also Shiraz and, of course, Pinotage vines there too.

The top red wine, the Monro, is a Bordeaux blend and is only made in stellar vintages and is a multi award winning wine the world over. It has a remarkable aging potential and I was fortunate enough to catch up with Cathy Brewer (nee Grier, and the sales, marketing and export director of Villiera) on her trip to Hong Kong yesterday for a vertical tasting of both the Monro and the Bush Vine Sauvignon Blanc.

I have had the pleasure of meeting Cathy before, once at a Wines of South Africa tasting where I tasted her Tradition Brut and also at a tutored tasting at a wine school here. Not to be outdone this time we tried a flight of the Sauvignon from 2006 to 2011 that really showed the age-worthiness of South African Sauvignon Blanc and confirmed the quality of winemaking at the estate.

As you progress from young to old wine you can really see how the nuances change within the wine and, although still fresh, the older wines begin to show more characters of asparagus and green pepper than the more minerally, fruity younger wines. This tasting of Sauvignon Blanc shows that you can drink a 6 year old, well made Sauvignon – just as long as the wines have been stored correctly.

All the wines for the tasting came directly from the cellars of Villiera and once we were done with the Sauvignon we moved onto a vertical of their top wine, the Monro. We tasted wines from 2000 to 2005 to get an idea of the ageing potential of top South African red wines.

The 2005, the wine currently available on the Hong Kong market, is elegant, robust and full bodied but still showed ripe tannins leaving me thinking that there was still much more to come from this wine in the future. As we headed back in time towards the 2000 vintage you could really see how the wines have developed and how the fruit slowly dissipates from the wine over time. In fact, as the wines get older they show more characters of the old world and you would be forgiven for mistaking the 2002 – certainly my favourite vintage of the day – for a classic Bordeaux wine.

In all it was a very informative and interesting tasting, one that can really teach people a lot about the aging potential of South African wines. Because South African wines are more complex than people expect they are certainly a tougher sell on the Hong Kong market, mostly because the Sauvignon’s are fresh and fruity, but dry, unlike their major competitor New Zealand. The New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc market has done well to make people think that this is how all Sauvignon Blancs should taste – in fact, most savvies are crisp and dry, much like the South African or Bordeaux white wines are like. The Monro was a pleasure to taste and given the chance, I would love to see how the current vintages age over time too.

I must say a big thanks to Cathy for all her insights and knowledge into the wines and South African wine production and to Wine N Things (www.winenthingshk.com) for importing these exceptional wines and for bringing Cathy to Hong Kong to allow us to taste this amazing vertical.